Fantasy Football Rankings: Week 1 Big Board

Outside of suspension and injury concerns, Week 1 fantasy lineups were set by whom you drafted to be your starters. For those fringe options in deeper leagues, Bleacher Report presents its Week 1 Big Board. Here we break down the top 100 overall and every position to its depths of fantasy.

You can use these rankings to weigh your options on starters or gear up for your daily fantasy football lineups, drafts and rosters. These rankings represent our prediction for the highest scorers by position, relative to their use, game plan, health and matchup.

You won't need to know Andrew Luck is facing off against the Indianapolis Colts legend who came before him to start those guys, but our positional analysis marvels at the expected bountiful games such as that one for fantasy purposes as well.

Top 100: LeSean McCoy Should Get Off to Start Worthy of No. 1 Overall Pick

Matt Rourke/Associated Press

LeSean McCoy has a lot going for him: a quick-strike Chip Kelly rushing attack, a great Week 1 matchup against a Jacksonville Jaguars rush defense that was the NFL's fourth worst last season and some sick natural talent.

McCoy is in a class all by himself, and Kelly told NJ.com's Eliot Shorr-Parks:

I think he has challenges and goals and aspirations that he wants to achieve...he does have the unique ability that the goals and aspirations he has, they are obtainable. (He says) 'I wanna lead the NFL in rushing,' but not everyone has the God-given ability to do it. He does.

McCoy also has the right system. Kelly's offense is predicated on attacking and doing it mostly with the running game. The Eagles led the NFL in rushing last season, thanks to the reigning rushing champ, McCoy.

They should get off to a great start for fantasy owners this weekend against a Jags defense that was in the bottom third of fantasy against running backs, per FFToday.com.

Kelly added to Shorr-Parks:

I don't challenge him. I think he challenges himself. If he sets goals and aspirations for himself, he has to go out and work for it. I think he really understands that.

He had an outstanding offseason; he came in camp in the best shape of his life. He is training like that every single day we are out here. I think he really realizes that this is the prime of his career. He is no longer a young player. He is in the meat of his career right now, and he better take full advantage of it.

He doesn't want to become a "woulda, coulda, shoulda guy." There is a short window for running backs, and he is in the middle of it right now. He is taking full advantage of it.

You have to love McCoy at age 26 this season, particularly in Week 1. He is the highest-projected scorer among non-quarterbacks in our Week 1 Top 100:

You don't sit Aaron Rodgers against anyone. You drafted him among the top three quarterbacks to play through thick and thin, but you cannot like what you and Rodgers are facing in Week 1: the Legion of Boom.

Ask Peyton Manning. He celebrated the most prolific season for a quarterback with a different type of crowning in the Super Bowl. He was crowned, as in jacked up by the Seattle Seahawks.

Rodgers heads back to the site of the "Fail Mary," the ignominious play that ended replacement referees and started the Seahawks' ascension to the NFL's elite. Payback is going to be tough this time around. Quarterbacks just don't play well against the Seahawks, particularly in Seattle against the 12th Man. Seattle was by far the toughest team in fantasy against quarterbacks last year, per FFToday.com.

If you drafted Rodgers early, you might be regretting your decision after a Week 1 that should see Manning and Drew Brees light it up with the best of them in much more favorable matchups.

Expect Rodgers to survive better than Manning did in the Super Bowl, and keep him active unless you have Colin Kaepernick as your backup quarterback. Kaep gets to face arguably one of the worst defenses in NFL history in the Dallas Cowboys.

There's a challenge at every level. They're really talented up front. They're as good as they come on the backend with the safety-corner tandem. And they're very talented and long and rangy and athletic and physical in the linebacker group.

So they can throw a lot of different personnel groupings and a lot of different guys lined up in different spots at you. And then they can rush just four and lock you down outside and inside. This is as talented a defense as you're going to see in the league.

We came into the preseason waiting for a Miami Dolphins decision on Lamar Miller vs. Knowshon Moreno for the feature-back role. All we have going into the regular season is indecision there.

Moreno proved healthy and more productive, despite coming off June knee surgery, while Miller took his outstanding spring and turned it into a disappointing summer. We thought we would get a certain fantasy starter out of one of these backs for fantasy Week 1 against a New England Patriots defense that was the NFL's third worst against the run a year ago.

All we have right now is a potential platoon situation that makes both Dolphins backs mere flex options in most fantasy leagues. Miller is expected to start, according to Chris Perkins of the South Florida Sun Sentinel, but the important carries might not go his way

Head coach Joe Philbin said:

I think some of that is we have to get the feel for the game. I think it's hard to say, "Yeah, he's definitely the guy at the end of the game," or conversely that Lamar is definitely the guy.

Each game has its own little character and story, and you kind of have to get a feel for it. Maybe one guy has a particularly hot hand that day, so we'll kind of keep an open mind in that regard.

Yuck.

Consider this a race too close to call right now. You cannot feel confident starting either running back in standard leagues. Both rank outside Bleacher Report's Top 25 running backs for Week 1:

Wide Receivers: Emmanuel Sanders Becomes Must-Start Minus Wes Welker

Jack Dempsey/Associated Press

We knew Wes Welker wouldn't play a 16-game season...at least we should have known. Concussion issues were going to dog him and sap him of his true fantasy ceiling. Now, we get this: A four-game suspension for Welker, as ESPN.com's Adam Schefter reported.

Welcome to fantasy prominence, Emmanuel Sanders.

Peyton Manning is going to have a productive day against the Indianapolis Colts defense, if only to stick it to his former team that released him when they decided to draft Andrew Luck as his heir.

Demaryius and Julius Thomas are going to draw a lot of attention from the corners and safeties, so Sanders and perhaps even Andre Caldwell and rookie Cody Latimer should become very important to Manning, the Broncos and fantasy owners.

It won't matter whether Sanders is in the slot or the outside. He is comfortable with either, and his role is expected to be expanded with Welker officially out now. Sanders told ESPN.com's Jeff Legwold:

I've played slot every year that I've played football except last year was my first year on the outside. It's a different game. On the outside, you just have to beat one man, really, and that's because they play man-to-man.

Whereas in the slot, it's more zone. You have to avoid linebackers, you have to avoid safeties, you have to sit down in the zone, and that's where the big hits can come from. Whereas on the outside, they'll come, but they're not going to come as much as in the slot.

We moved Sanders into B/R's Top 25 wide receivers for Week 1 and have Caldwell and Latimer as sleeper additions to help if you are suffering from the loss of Welker. The good news, Welker owners, is you had to expect this. You also have options, like the Broncos and Manning do.

We should have known better. We featured Rob Gronkowski's bold statement that he was going to play in Week 1 in Bleacher Report's weekly fantasy notebook.

Then, Bill Belichick had to go and be...well...Bill Belichick. Gronk went from fairly sure fantasy starter to just as questionable as before with one statement by the boss in a conference call with reporters, as Anthony Gulizia of The Boston Globe reported:

I'm glad that Rob is optimistic about his situation. We'll go through the week of practice and take a look at everything and everybody. With all due respect to Rob, I'm glad he feels the way he does, but in the end, we'll have to make the decision we feel is best for the team. ...

... Even though players are experienced, and so are coaches, and a player hasn't played in the preseason, there's still game speed and game situations, and all the communication that goes on during a game, whether it's on offense, defense, or in the kicking game, that's just different in practice.

You have to be ready to handle that and work with your teammates in those conditions.

So, it isn't necessarily a question of whether Gronk can play but just how much he can contribute right now. Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels added to Gulizia:

Rob's been practicing and we've been out doing some different things, building our offensive systems and packages as we go. Whatever we can, or are available to use him to do, however big, small, whatever the decision is at the end of the week, he'll be ready to do it.

We're going to try and do what we think is the right thing to do to win the game this week. That would encompass the way we try to use all of our guys. When Gronkowski plays on Sunday against Miami, whatever that capacity may be, the greatest challenge will likely be how quickly he can get in sync with the offense.

Fantasy owners should expect to wait to see: 1. If Gronk makes the team flight to Miami on Saturday; 2. If Gronk is listed with the inactives at 11:30 a.m. ET Sunday morning.

If Gronk is active for the New England Patriots, you should likely play him in all fantasy leagues. All it takes for a tight end in fantasy is one touchdown pass near the goal line. Gronk can do that even if he is used sparingly.

Tom Brady intimated to Gulizia:

When he's out there, he's obviously a great target because of his size, his speed, his agility, his ability to catch the football in traffic. That's what he's done over the course of his career. That's why he's got so many touchdowns, because he's got such a big catch radius that you put the ball in certain areas and he can go up and make the play.

Defense/Special Teams: New York Jets Get to Tee Off on Rookie Quarterback

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We are shocked a Rex Ryan New York Jets team was just the 26th-ranked defense/special teams in FantasyPros.com's average draft position. Those that skipped on the Jets in drafts are going to be regretting their decision in Week 1.

Ryan might not boast his most talented Jets defense of his regime, but he is a master defensive tactician. Facing Derek Carr in his NFL debut on opening day is too enticing for fantasy owners to overlook. The Jets D/ST should be active in all leagues, even if they are still available off waivers in many.

"Ryan’s Jet defenses have typically driven rookie quarterbacks batty," Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News wrote. "The Jets are 7-3 against starting rookie quarterbacks since he took over in 2009."

Defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson, one of the guys who will be pressuring, confusing and humbling the rookie, isn't taking the Week 1 assignment lightly—exactly what you want to hear as a fantasy owner.

"I don't know what to expect," Richardson told Mehta. "We should be able to handle any quarterback in this league whether he's a rookie or a 10-year vet. We look at them all the same: Get to him."

Linebacker David Harris echoed those comments.

He's a rookie and it's his first game starting, but as an opponent, you can't go in thinking like that, because you'll get lax and get beat. You have to always be on guard for anything they try to throw at us...because you never know.

We treat everybody the same. We're equal opportunists, you could say.

We have the Jets a surprising must-start D/ST in the top three of B/R's Week 1 rankings:

Kickers: Shayne Graham Gets 2nd Chance with New Orleans Saints

Sam Riche/Associated Press

Shayne Graham and his fantasy owners have had an interesting week. He went from being cut by the New Orleans Saints and undrafted (or cut) in fantasy and then back to being in the must-start category among kickers.

It was a roller-coaster ride, but anyone getting the kicking points for the Drew Brees-led Saints should be owned and active in fantasy. Pick Graham back up if you dropped him.

There are definitely times in my career where I've been on top of the world and times where I feel like the world was falling down around me. But you've still gotta be ready for that next opportunity, because it's the most important one.

Eric Mack, one of the giants among fantasy writers, is the Fantasy Football Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, where you can ask him endless questions about your team, rip him for his content and even challenge him to a head-to-head fantasy game.